


A Song of Fire

by Charlie9646



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Beltane, Established Relationship, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mentions of religion, Pregnancy, Ritual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:07:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23821318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlie9646/pseuds/Charlie9646
Summary: Beltane a special time of year and a special kind of magic.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34
Collections: Celebration of Beltane 2020





	A Song of Fire

  


“Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan the flames.” Rumi

Hermione Jean Granger and Severus Tobias Snape were quite an odd pair all things considered. They did not plan to end up together, nor if you ever asked them before they did if they shared interest in one another would Hermione and Severus have said that they did. But, life was never about what you truly planned on was it? Life was about stepping out onto the edge, staring it sharply in the face and then jumping off. 

Their love for one another was like a fire, a deep passion that changed both of them for the better or at least they both hoped. But, hope meant very little in the end did it not? Tonight was Beltane, something that Hermione had never celebrated before. Her parents in a lot of ways were as Muggle as they came, not that there was anything wrong with such a fact. But, it meant they were Catholic, which was quite strange in England, though it meant that they considered anyone who practised the old way of the island a little odd and a little bit weird. 

Severus on the other hand wanted nothing to do with his father, which meant he wanted nothing to do with his father’s beliefs. The beliefs that Tobias tended to desperately want to ground into the son that he didn’t really even want. But, that was the past and what mattered most was the present. Today was Beltane, a day of rebirth and renewal. Hermione didn’t tell him yet something that would change their relationship forever, but the truth was she was happy about it, as strange as the thought was even to herself.

Hermione was pregnant. Today was going to be the day she told Severus, and it would change everything.

****************************** 

Hermione stood next to Severus, both holding logs to place on the fire. It burned brightly in the setting sun. The night was coming and so was their ritual. It wasn’t anything complex, it was Hermione’s first holiday like this, and Severus well he still felt some shame at wanting to do something like this. The pain of abuse and neglect runs deep, and not all scars are visible. 

Would Severus want to raise this child? To be with her? To be a family, a  _ real _ family?

Hermione did not dare speak her thoughts, the same feelings that bounced through her mind like a ping pong ball. She sat down on the ground, the mud staining her bare knees and white cotton dress. But, that was the point, wasn’t it? To be closer to the earth? Their mother. Severus joined her on the ground, his pale skin contrasting with everything around them. 

“A sickle for your thoughts?” He mused. “What is on your mind, Hermione?” 

“I have something to tell you, and I hope that you are not upset with me,” Hermione softly said, leaning into him, his black hair brushing against her cheek as she did so. “Don’t feel as if you have to stay with me because of it. I understand if you don’t want to.”

“Nothing would make me want to leave, not anything. I love you, Hermione Jean Granger, and I will not leave unless you desire me to leave.” Severus took her hand in his and brought it his lips kissing it, “now what is it that has that intelligent mind of yours been worrying yourself sick over?”

“I am pregnant,” it was easier to say those words than Hermione ever thought it would be. Instead of pulling away from her how she expected him to do Severus pulled her closer, kissing her as he did so. His long pale fingers were tangling into her curls. Kissing Severus was like being struck by lightning. Hermione kissed him back, pulling him closer, he pulled away from her, “I know you believed that this would send me running like some silly, stupid fool. It’s not though this might not be how we planned or would have set it out to be. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and this doesn’t change that.”

She was shocked by his words, but more shocked by the resolution in his black as midnight eyes. Severus was not pitying her out, lying to her out of the kindness of his heart. He had never been the type to do such a thing, not ever. Severus Snape for better or for worse rarely cared for the feelings of others it just wasn’t part of his nature. Honesty, a sharp conviction after the war had struck him at so much lying and sneaking around the man, had promised himself, then her that when he was at all able to he would tell the truth.

“I hoped you would say that, but I didn’t dare imagine that you would, all things considered,” Hermione muttered, running her fingers over his arm, “I think I just kept thinking about what you would say, what you would think, and how you would feel.” 

“How far along are you? You were worried that my feelings about my father would cloud the feelings about my own child.” Severus murmured, “That I so desperately fear becoming like  _ him _ that I would send you away, the best thing that has ever happened to me? Maybe once I would have, back before, back before my second chance. You know something? When I was a child my mother used to sing to me, sing to me about heroes old Arthur and Merlin. Sometimes though she would sing about her childhood, the holidays they used to celebrate. But, now we have a fire to tend to, the songs of the fires of Beltane happened to be some of my favourites.”

He seemed sad in a way after mentioning the fire, plucking a small branch from the pile pulling the dead leaves off it crunching them between his fingers. Lost in thoughts that surely were of the past, but not of better days. Hermione reached for a branch of her own; this one had no leaves on it. Together they placed them in the fire. 

“Two months, I am two months pregnant, I have done some thinking, though I have been doing far too much of that. But, it's a girl. I think we should name her Rose Eileen after both of our mother’s.”

“And if it’s a boy, what shall we call him then?”

“Aidan Severus, if you like it. After the Celtic god of the sun and his father.”

“I think either first names are good, but we will need to talk more about those middle names,” he muttered.

They watched the flames dance thinking about all that happened and all that was to come. Hermione knew no matter what knew they would face it together. Married or not, such things could come later or never at all; they had all the time in the world to think of such things. But, she did know she could get Severus to accept those middle names; it would only take a little time. Hermione knew that the man would do just about anything for her. Names were powerful things; they weren’t just the thing people called you. They tied you to the past, the present and the future.

Names were like songs having the ability to be passed down from each generation to the next. They had no more branches left, and the fire was starting to die down, which meant it was time to go inside. Hermione didn’t know if she felt any different after the ritual, but maybe that was the point, it was about bonding people together and new life, which it seemed it had done a bit of both for them or at least she hoped so one could after all on hope about such things, couldn’t they? 


End file.
